Neidar (Hill) Dwarves

To the other races of Ansalon, when referring to a dwarf,the dwarf in question is mostly likely of the Neidar clan.The term Neidar was first coined in Thorbardin to describea clan of dwarves who dwelt above ground. Since that time,the term has been used to refer to nearly all dwarves whoprefer to live on the surface of Krynn rather than beneathit. They are the most well known of all dwarves, becausethey interact with the outside world more than theirmountain dwelling brethren. Known to most races simplyas hill dwarves, the Neidar are sturdy fighters, shrewdmerchants, and master craftsmen.More curious about the world around them than theirmountain-dwelling cousins, hill dwarves have traveled farand wide, spreading their culture and plying their tradein every nation of Ansalon. Nearly every mountain inAnsalon has a settlement of hill dwarves somewhere alongits base. Dwarven adventurers will most often be Neidar,as they are usually the only dwarves willing to leave theirhomes in search of greater fortune. In their dealings,Neidar tend to be fair and honest, but will haggle forevery last copper. Hill dwarves are loyal friends if one canpenetrate their grumbling manners and gruff exterior.

Physical AppearanceHill dwarves tend to be short and stocky. They standbetween 4 and 4 ½ feet tall. While not tall, their girthstill makes them physically imposing. Male hill dwarvestend to weigh anywhere between 150 and 200 pounds;females usually weigh slightly less. They have a dense bonestructure that lends to this added weight and makes themless buoyant than other creatures. As such, dwarves sink,rather than float, in deep waters. Of course, this only addsto their natural aversion of large bodies of water.The Neidar often have darkly tanned skin fromyears spent outdoors working fields, harvesting lumber,and traveling to and from nearby settlements for trade.Wrinkles are common, beginning around the early age offorty, making hill dwarves appear older than they truly are.Neidar eye colors are predominantly dark brownwith the occassional exception of green or hazel.Many hill dwarves tend to be nearsighted. Their heavyeyebrows hang over their eyes, giving them a naturalscowl when tired or preoccupied. This is a large reasonwhy non-dwarves believe they are always cross.A dwarf ’s hair is a source of pride and occasionallya sign of their social status. Dwarven males lovetheir facial hair. “You can tell a lot about a dwarfby the way he keeps his beard,” is a commondwarven saying. It is common practice fora dwarf to keep his beard tucked into hisbelt, provided it’s long enough; this way,the beard stays out of the way while heare working. Beards are occassionallybraided and tied. While this isfunctional, additional ornamentationis considered gaudy for males.Keeping a beard clean and healthyis the general accepted practice.Hair color ranges from familyto family. As a rule, hill dwarveshave the widest spectrum of haircolor, ranging from blonde to blackand everything in between. Their hairwill begin to turn a silver-grey as theyreach adulthood and white as they reach old age.Many male hill dwarves tend to go bald while theyare still young. Females, however, often enjoy thickheads of hair their whole life. They take as muchpride in their hair as their men. While they do nothave beards, they do have long hair, often tied upin a bun to keep it out of the way when performingthe day-to-day tasks; they let down it at night andfor special occasions. Ornamental hairnets, jeweledpins, and fashionable hair clips are brought outduring festivals or community get-togethers.

PsychologyHill Dwarves believe in hard work and commitment.A good life is comprised of a day of hard laborfollowed by a mug of spirits and the satisfaction thatyou have done something worthwhile for your familyand community. Creature comforts are important oncework is complete. “A good chair can outlast a goodfriend!” is an old dwarven saying. Though many morehill dwarves than mountain dwarves are adventurers,the majority prefer to remain dedicated to their familyand community. Dwellings are often adorned withtrappings to make the house more comfortable.While all dwarves covet gems and precious metals, hilldwarves do not usually feel a need to flaunt their wealth.Like all dwarves, if an individual can establish a bondwith a hill dwarf, that person can always depend on them.Rock solid and never wavering, a Neidar will defend hisfriends and family to the death. Their stubborn nature,which keeps them from returning to the mountains orforgetting any slight against them, can be a powerful forcewhen it is used to protect a loved one.

Social StructureMost hill dwarf villages have a mayor or elected officialwho passes judgment on internal conflicts and overseesthe local laws and customs in the village. If it is everdiscovered that the official is working against the goodof the community as a whole, he is quickly and oftenruthlessly removed from office. A number of dwarves alsowork as local law enforcement, helping settle disputes andpatrolling the borders of the hill dwarf territory.Since most dwarves are trained for combat, everyone isexpected to be involved in the militia. Most dwarves havetheir own weapon and suit of armor; sometimes handeddown from one generation to the next, antique armor isnot unusual among the hill dwarves. Female dwarves oftentake on tasks behind the front line, such as protectingchildren or gathering supplies, but this doesn’t preventa determine female fighter from joining the men. Whenconfronted with a threat to the community, every dwarfwho can wield a weapon is welcome to join the fight.There are two primary concentrations of hill dwarveson Ansalon. The first is the in foothills of the KharolisMountains. These are the dwarves who joined forces withhumans to attack Thorbardin in the Dwarfgate War. Theycan still be found there, farming, hunting, and continuingtheir lives much as they have since that dark time. Thesecond settlement is among the hills surrounding theGarnet Mountain Range. The prosperous dwarvenprovince of Kayolin, located deep beneath the GarnetMountains, has long been a shining jewel among thedwarven kingdoms. It has never known great civil unrestlike Thorbardin or destruction and disease like Thoradin.Even during the dark times following the Cataclysm,Kayolin left its doors open to the hill dwarves in thesurrounding territory, easing tensions and saving lives.Hill dwarves are not exlcusive to these regions,however. They have found homes all across Ansalon;small clans of dwarves have settled in nearly everycorner. The Emerald Peaks of Nordmaar are home to theStonedrum clan of wild Klar who picked up and fled farfrom Thorbardin after the Dwarfgate War. Among thecliffs of Port Balifor, the Stonesplitter clan has settled andeven assisted the citizens against the dangers of dragonsby building escape tunnels and cliff-side residences. InKhur among the desert tribes, the Shalecutter dwarvesare renowned for their metal and stoneworks. With thepossible exception of the Minotaur Isles, hill dwarves canbe found nearly anywhere on Ansalon.

ReligionThe Neidar tend to be a spiritual people. They venerateReorx as the highest of all gods. Incredibly stubbornand not willing to take things at face value, most Neidarbelieved Reorx was teaching them a lesson after theCataclysm and never stopped worshiping him. When theirprayers had seemingly stopped being answered and theclerical worship of Reorx drastically fell into decline, thedwarves refused to believe Reorx would abandon them.After the Dwarfgate War, however, many families took adifferent view. They began to believe that Reorx, like themountain dwarves, had forsaken them and turned awayfrom him. Conflicts over religion fractured the Neidar; itwas only after the War of the Lance and the return of theirgod that these wounds began to heal, and the Neidar cametogether as one again.After the Anvil Summer, the Chaos War, and thepassing of the gods, the hill dwarves stubbornly held on tothe belief that their god would not again be silenced. Reorxhad tamed Chaos once, and he would do it again. The onemoon, the changing constellations, and the lack of magiconly meant that things had changed, but it did not meanReorx had been defeated. When mysticism and the Powerof the Heart were discovered, many hill dwarves believedit was Reorx’s parting gift to them and explored this newpower. Later, when the gods returned once more, manyrejoiced and worshiped Reorx and the other gods, but afew held on to the dear gift of the Power of the Heart.While Reorx is venerated as the highest god amongthe pantheon, the Silver Mistress (Shinare) and Mesalax(Mishakal) are both highly respected among theNeidar—the Silver Mistress for her dedication to industryand Mesalax for her healing arts. Stories of the famineand disease that followed the Cataclysm are still told toyounger generations of dwarves as a reminder of thatterrible time. They also tell how it was Reorx who defeatedChaos and the god of the One Moon, as he smashedthat grey moon from the sky with his great hammer andreturned the moons and the stars of the past to theirproper locations.Every dwarven village has at least one chapel dedicatedto Reorx, Mesalax, or the Silver Mistress. While organizedworship is not mandatory, it is encouraged, and it is notuncommon for many dwarves to visit their town’s templeon holy days to pay their respects, assist in maintaining thetemple, or donating supplies for the priests and the poor ofthe community.

Racial RelationsWhile hill dwarves are seemingly intolerant of nearlyeveryone, it has never stopped them from dealing andtrading with nearly every race at one point or anotherthrough the ages.Despite their differences, hill dwarves have generallygotten along with Qualinesti elves. It was mainly the hilldwarves of Thorbardin who assisted in the creation ofthe elven kingdom. Since the Cataclysm, much of thatcamaraderie has faded. Contrarily, since the fall of theelven kingdom, it is not uncommon to find the odd groupof elves living among dwarven communities who openedtheir homes to the refugees of the fallen nation. Outside ofthe region around Thorbardin, meetings between elves andhill dwarves can be uncomfortable affairs.Hill dwarves regard gnomes with some trepidationand annoyance. This may be because the dwarves can seesomething of themselves in the hardworking gnomes.However, the gnomish drive to go far beyond what anysensible dwarf would consider and their knack for failurescare hill dwarves. Dwarves and gnomes can work welltogether, however, as long as the dwarf can establish theleadership role.Hill dwarves seem to understand half-elves. A race ofoutcasts from not one, but two different societies remindsthe many hill dwarves of their estrangement from the clansbeneath the mountains. Not as hot headed as humans andnot as pretentious as elves, the personalities of most halfelvesappeal to hill dwarves.Humans have interacted with hill dwarves for longerthan either race can remember. To the dwarves, humansare warlike, over-eager, and greedy, but at the same timecan show compassion and respect for tradition. Onething all humans tend to do, at least in the eyes of the hilldwarves, is recklessly spend their wealth and personalgain. Hill dwarves are more than happy to oblige in takingit from them if it means an honest day’s work for them.If there is any race on the face of Ansalon that totallymystifies and frustrates hill dwarves, it’s kender. How thekender race has managed to survive is as baffling to hilldwarves as how gully dwarves remain in the world. Kenderare foolish, careless, and lazy. They are also clearly a raceof thieves, lawless bandits, and compulsive liars. They can’tbe trusted any farther than they can be thrown, no matterhow many times you throw them.The Neidar see minotaurs as an honorable race, even ifthey are evil. Occasionally, hill dwarves have been knownto trade with minotaurs, but just as often, they have foughtagainst them. When dealing with minotaurs, hill dwarvescome armed with a good bit of suspicion and a hand ontheir axe.Hill dwarves detest draconians on general principle.They consider a race of magically deformed dragonchildren crafted from dark magic to be unnatural andtwisted. Hill dwarves have little to no contact with themthat isn’t violent. There is a nasty rumor circulating thatit was a hill dwarf who gave the draconians instructionson how to find the dwarven ruins of Teyr. However, it’sgenerally believed that any self respecting hill dwarf wouldnever do such a thing.The ogre race has been at odds with the dwarves sincethe dwarves’ creation. The only dwarves known to interactwith ogres have been the Zhakar, who traded with theogres of Blöde. Even some of those meetings ended inbloodshed. Unlike half-elves, half-ogres are not treatedwith the same respect from hill dwarves. The taint of theirogre parentage is hard for any hill dwarf to ignore.

Hill Dwarves as CharactersThe dwarven stereotype is so well known, it is often easyto pick up on certain traits that make dwarves fun toplay. Hill dwarves should be more open to other races,which makes them easy to integrate into any party. Hilldwarves have had a wide variety of exposure to the outsideworld, allowing them to take on non-typical dwarvenclasses. Dwarven rogues, bards, and mystics are classesthat would make a dwarven character interesting withoutstraying too far from the realm of possibility. One thing,which should be kept in mind while playing, hill dwarvesconsider their way the right way. There may be other waysof accomplishing a task, but if it is to be done right, have ahill dwarf do it.

Adventuring Hill DwarvesHill dwarves adventure for a number of reasons. Mostoften, they go out into the world on some type of familybusiness. Sometimes these trips abroad unexpectedly turninto adventures that take the dwarf far away from home andhearth. Occasionally, it is family troubles that cause youngdwarves to leave home and take up a life of adventuring.These dwarves are often reluctant to talk about their homeand will rarely share details of why they left. Young hilldwarf warriors will sometimes hire themselves out asmercenaries, looking for excitement and experience.